Wikus Van der Merwe is at first representative of the cruelty and racism perpetrated by the white South Africans against the black Africans. As he sets fire to the prawn baby-pods, he laughs at their screams, reminding me of the deliberate cruelty of the nazi's. In particular I was reminded of the SS guards in the ghetto in The Pianist that would force the Jewish residents to pair up into dance partners and dance for their amusement. They paired them up in ways to amuse themselves; a little boy with an old grandmother, a tall woman and a short man. Wikus makes fun of the prawns and goes about his job cheerfully, completely unable to see any wrong in his actions. He is totally convinced that their alien-nature makes the prawns lack any kind of emotions that are usually conceived of as human, like love.
In Carol B. Thompson's Forum:Investing in South African Apartheid, I learned that the South African government in 1951 decided that, "To maintain their economic and political dominance as a minority, the whites…instituted a "homelands" or bantustan policy. Eighty percent of the population is living on thirteen percent of the land. Each African ethnic group is to have its own bantustan. The land designated for the Africans contains none of the major mineral resources and most of the unproductive land….the government has forcibly moved three million people from the urban areas to the bantustans (54)." I was again reminded of The Pianist and how we watch as the Nazi's forcibly evict the Jews and set them up in the ghetto and then later, of course, they are taken to the concentration and/or death camps. Thompson also informs us that through the 1952 Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act, black South Africans were forced to carry around their passbooks to assure police authorities of where they were from. Both the prawns and the Jews (and all of the other groups persecuted by the nazis) were required to show proof of their citizenry, also.
Immediately I was struck by the word "prawn." A derogatory term for the aliens, I was reminded of the Hutu preference for calling the Tutsi's "cockroaches." This is nothing but pure de-humanization so that those in places of power and influence, like the Hutu radio DJ or the South African government, can drive home the fact that the prawns (allegorically the black south Africans) and the Tutsi's are sub-human. As Carl Wilkens discusses in his interview: Last Man Standing, the American who stayed during the Rwandan Genocide, "othering," as he calls it is something that we all do inherently. We tend to start "othering" when we are in times of crisis as it seems to be a deeper form of scapegoating. Finding a common enemy is important to people (Wilkens 145). The Tutsi's in a time of national unrest become the "other" in Rwanda. In a society that has been in a state of upheaval over race politics, the prawns are the ideal "other" and because of the poor state of Germany post WWI, Hitler was able to give his followers a scapegoat in the Jewish "other."
I really like that you bring in a reflection with Nazi Germany, as this was something that I did as well in my post. As you cite the article and discuss how this large group of people was forced away from the comfort of their land, and you were reminded of The Pianist and District 9 as well, I think this element of eviction is really important because it is a common thread that links all of the genocides that we have learned about this semester. Districts 9 and 10 were used for this very manner. It is interesting that Wikus actually uses District 9 as a refuge when his is in exile, so to speak. A place of exiles essentially just takes in another exile. (This is another aspect of the film that makes it a bit different from the other ones we have watched.) I also like that you mention the commonality that both the Jews and the prawns are forced to show their identification as well. Both social groups are forced to prove themselves to a "greater" social group that, in all actuality, has no right to authority. There are so many similarities between the Jews and the Prawns.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you brought the similarities between 'prawn' and cockroaches to light. I feel as though this is crucial in investigating a genocidal movement, the ways in which people dehumanize each other. These names have a way of making that being into a lesser type of people. You demean the name, you demean the people right?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that in the Nazi regime, Hitler didn't want to make up any derogatory names for the Jewish people. Instead he wanted to make the word 'Jew' or 'Jewish' into a derogatory term itself, something that would always ring with a bad connotation.
I also immediately thought of the scene in the Pianist where the S.S. soldiers force the Jews to pair up and dance for their amusement. Wikus and his men humiliated the prawns for their own amusement. The audience can see that the prawns are intelligent and human-like in their reactions; however, Wikus presents the prawns as unintelligent and naturally violent creatures. Never once does he consider that cruelty has forced the prawns to turn violent. It becomes increasingly clear that when shown kindness, the prawns react with the same kindness.
ReplyDeleteYou also made an important point about the tendency to find a common enemy in times of crisis. Hitler used the collapse of the economy after WWI to his advantage by blaming the Jews for the poverty of German people. He claimed that by eliminating a "less desirable" group of individuals, the Germans would have a better life. Because people desperately wanted a way out of poverty, it was easier for Hitler to spread these lies.
I also saw the similarity between the nickname "prawn" and "cockroach." I think Mar's observation that Hitler attempted to make "Jew" a dirty word is an interesting one. Still to this day people still use the word "Jew" as a negative term to refer to someone who hoards money and I never saw the obvious connection until now.